Many walk-behind turf care machines, such as reel mowers used for mowing golf greens, utilize single cylinder horizontal shaft engines. These engines, which commonly operate with significant vibration, are rigidly mounted to the frame of the mower. In applications such as greens mowing, where the grass may be cut only a few thousandth of an inch at a time, vibrations transmitted to the cutting reel can result in an unacceptable quality of cut. Further, such vibrations can cause operator discomfort and/or fatigue as well as result in reduced machine reliability.
To reduce the transfer of engine vibration to the frames of machines, it is known to use resilient engine mounting blocks between the engine and frame. However, many walk-behind turf care machines utilize belts to transfer power from the engine to the reel or other turf engaging element. When an engine adapted for transmitting power through belt drives is mounted on all resilient mountings, the engine can twist as high loads are applied to the belt drive. That can result in a misalignment between the drive and the driven pulleys, which can eventually lead to premature drive belt failure.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a means for mounting a single cylinder engine on a walk-behind turf care machine which could reduce vibration transferred to the frame of the machine as well as to the operator. It would further be desirable to provide an improved engine mounting means for use on such a machine having a belt driven power transfer system. It would also be desirable to reduce the vibration encountered by belt powered walk behind greens mowers to improve its greens cutting performance, where the cutting accuracy is so important.